Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Tennessee.
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if only a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial). [1]
The method of execution is lethal injection, but a prisoner condemned before 1 January 1999 may choose to be electrocuted instead. Electrocution is also provided if lethal injection is held unconstitutional or if any drug necessary to carry it out is unavailable through no fault of the Tennessee Department of Correction. If electrocution is held unconstitutional, state statutes then provide the use of "any constitutional method of execution". [2]
First degree-murder can be punished by death when it involves any of the following aggravating factors: [1]
Tennessee has carried out thirteen executions since the reinstatement of the death penalty: one in 2000 under governor Don Sundquist, five from 2006 to 2009 under governor Phil Bredesen, three during the final months of Bill Haslam’s second term, including Edmund Zagorski, and four so far under Bill Lee. As of January 5th, 2023, governor Bill Lee has placed an indefinite stay in the issuing of death warrants due to systemic issues with the application of the state's execution protocol. [3] The first execution during Bredesen's governorship was that of Sedley Alley, sentenced to death for the rape, torture and murder of 19-year old U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins. Her parents were notable advocates of expediting the death penalty appeal process. [4]
As of March 2021 [update], 49 condemned prisoners are incarcerated on the state's death row. [5] The Tennessee Supreme Court sets execution dates. The Governor alone decides whether to grant or deny clemency; the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole makes a recommendation in each case but the Governor is not required to follow the Board's recommendation. Executions take place at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville at 7pm (the time was 1am until 2009 and 10am from 2009-2018).
In 2007, Tennessee established by legislation a Committee to Study the Administration of the Death Penalty. [6] [7] [8] After 16 months of analysis and hearings, the study committee on the death penalty suggested reform of the death penalty without abolishing it, including the creation of an independent authority to review death sentences.
Of the two women sentenced to death, Gaile Owens was pardoned in July 2010, owing to a sentence deemed "disproportionate" (she was convicted in 1986 for having killed her husband who beat her). [9] The second woman, Christa Pike, who was convicted in 1996 for having tortured to death a fellow Job Corps dormitory resident, remains on death row.
In 2023, Tennessee was debating about using firing squad. [10] [11]
In Tennessee, hanging was a legal method of execution until 1913, when executions were suspended for two years. In 1915, the electric chair was introduced and used for 45 years. Between 1960 and 2000, the death penalty however was not applied in Tennessee. The death penalty was reinstated there in 1975, but executions did not resume until 2000, with the lethal injection that had become a legal method of execution at the end of this period. However, those sentenced to death before January 1, 1999 can request to be executed in the electric chair. Faced with difficulties in acquiring the drugs needed for lethal injections, Tennessee law was amended in 2014 to once more permit electrocution as a backup method, in case of any problems with acquiring the drugs needed for lethal injections. [12]